Real Consumer Spending Falls in October

Personal income remained flat in October after increasing 0.4 percent in September. Wages and salaries decreased 0.2 percent in October after increasing 0.3 percent in September. The October decrease reflected work interruptions caused by Hurricane Sandy, which reduced wages and salaries by 0.3 percent. For more information, see the personal income news release.

Current-dollar disposable personal income (DPI), after-tax income, remained flat in October after increasing 0.4 percent in September.

Real DPI, income adjusted for taxes and inflation, fell 0.1 percent in October after remaining flat in September.

Real consumer spending, spending adjusted for price changes, fell 0.3 percent in October after rising 0.4 percent in September. The decline was the largest since September 2009. Spending on durable goods fell 1.7 percent in October after rising 2.2 percent in September.

PCE prices increased 0.1 percent in October after increasing 0.3 percent in September. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.1 percent in October, the same increase as in September.

Personal saving rate
Personal saving as a percent of DPI was 3.4 percent in October, compared with 3.3 percent in September.